


Futile Sacrifices of War

by FeliciaAmelloides



Series: A Oneshot a Day... [114]
Category: 10 Billion Wives (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death, Gen, Severe Injury, Violence, War Horror, War is not a Good Thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-27 12:08:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14425089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaAmelloides/pseuds/FeliciaAmelloides
Summary: In the heat of battle, thirteen women become trapped in a bunker, hiding from enemy soldiers and trying not to die from their grievous injuries. Each has a different idea as to what they do next, but in war nothing is without pain or sacrifice. They will all soon learn that one way or another.





	Futile Sacrifices of War

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit different to what I usually write, but I tried to make it as realistic as possible (it’s not a real war, but I wanted the characters and situation to be somewhat realistic) so that it doesn’t glorify war or make it seem like a cute, romantic thing. I hope it achieves the effect I wanted.

The all-too-familiar drone of helicopters soaring overhead was too quiet to silence the roar of the shells going off just outside, but it was enough to quiet the whimpers of the wounded with the prospect of death. Should those helicopters somehow find the group of young women in uniform, they would be gunned down in an instant. So the group remained deathly silent, faces dirty and streaked with smudged camo paint, what little hair they had mussed and tainted with ash.

In the corner of the murky, hastily dug out bunker lay the commander of the battalion, defeated and exhausted. Blood dripped freely from a gash on her right arm, and soaked through the bandages wrapped around the mauled stump which was her left just ten minutes ago. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, but she still breathed. There was still a chance for her. Only thirteen women, some barely girls, remained alive from the battalion. But the war wasn’t over yet. All they had to do was wait.

Beside the commander was one of the older members of the battalion. Lea Andersen was the only Dutch member of the group, although she was actually half-Danish on her father’s side. Most of the other soldiers were German, Finnish or Estonian, with one Lithuanian and one Italian. Fortunately the majority could speak at least basic German, allowing them all to communicate. But that’s irrelevant. Back to Lea. The twenty-eight year old ran a hand through her fiery hair in exhaustion as she checked over the commander. Judging by the amount of blood staining the floor, she determined that it was past time to redress her wounds.

Unfortunately, they had no more bandages. Too many had been injured already, and there were only so many to go around. The only radio the entire group had between them had a large piece of loose shrapnel from a shell sticking all the way through it. It had been prised from a corpse’s cold, pale hands.

Lea wiped her brow and sent a quick prayer to God before returning to her commander. “Ma’am...?” She whispered, voice low so as not to alert the gunmen above. Slowly, painfully, the broken woman on the floor turned her head to gaze into the eyes of the private. She tried to muster up a smile, but it came out as a weak sigh. In this state, she couldn’t even speak without daring to dance with Death. Just one false step and it would be all over for her. But that concern and underlying fear in her private’s eyes motivated her to keep on living. She couldn’t abandon her battalion yet. Not until they were all safe and well back at the barracks. Hopefully they’d get a few weeks off after this to recuperate, while she slipped away quietly in bed at home. That would be nice, although she already knew it was a distant fantasy. 

After watching the commander drift off into thought, Lea decided that she was at a loss for the time being. Her next move was clear- she needed to get together with the more experienced strategists within the group and plan out an escape. Carefully she picked her way through the throng of injured soldiers to reach them. Edwina noticed her first, looking up from her conversation with Christine to give her a grave stare. She would have smiled had they been in the barracks with a couple of beers and no imminent threat of death.

“Väinämöinen, Von Bock. I need to know what our next steps are.” She started quickly, eyeing them both to see their reactions. Christine smiled despite their circumstances, clearly trying to stay optimistic to boost morale.

“I think we should wait it out. We’ll be okay here for now- there’s no way those bastards outside will be able to figure out we’re here unless they hear us. Going out there is too dangerous right now.” The twenty year old fiddled with a few strands of blonde hair as she spoke, a nervous habit she’d picked up years ago. Edwina immediately glared at her, clearly dissenting her opinion. She fortunately was able to keep her cool enough to lower her voice in response. Survival instinct always did outshine a short temper in Edwina.

“If we wait, the people who are severely injured will die! If we leave, they might die, yes, but they have a chance! We should just go for it and see what happens.” Lea frowned, as did Christine. Both women had a good point, but Lea believed that both plans would cause problems. She suddenly realised that the other two were staring at her expectantly, waiting for her response. She nodded despite no one asking a question and proceeded to relay her own plan.

“Neither of you are wrong, but both of those plans will lead to loss of life. I personally think that we should send two people out. One will go ahead and try to reach the base, a radio or another commander to ask for help. The other will look out for any enemies and return here if the first person gets compromised. The same applies vice versa, of course.” Christine and Edwina looked at each other briefly, then back at Lea.

“Actually... That’s a pretty good plan.” Christine’s Finnish accent was a little thicker than usual, indicating her stress. Edwina muttered something in Estonian, causing Christine to glare at her. She then reluctantly nodded.

“Okay. We’ll do that. But who will go out?” Lea took a deep breath, steeling herself. Then she spoke the unspeakable, condemning herself to death.

“I will. It was my idea after all.” Again the other two exchanged a glance, before they both silently nodded. So Lea’s fate was sealed.

After a brief vote, the other person was decided. Caramella Marino, a nineteen-year-old student who had to drop out of college to join the military. She left Italy as an asylum seeker, and couldn’t speak much German. However, she was brave and strong, more so than most of the women around them, and was proud to volunteer herself to go out alongside Lea. Her sleek black bob curled at her ears, making her deep brown eyes look even darker, especially with the lack of light in the bunker. She smiled with confidence, fully prepared to die for her friends and comrades. Lea returned the smile, glad to have such an amazing person on board yet sad that someone so incredible could be killed within the hour because of her bad choices.

Pushing their emotions aside, the women left their comrades and the bunker behind, stepping out into the blinding light and suffocating smog left in the aftermath of the explosions.

The ground was cracked and worn by hundreds of feet marching over it, and corpses surrounded each hole where a shell had been. The desert-like graveyard was unnerving even for Caramella, and she stuck close to Lea on their way out. Every step was like a round of Russian roulette- either they were stepping on solid ground or about to set off a mine. A deathly quiet settled upon the graveyard as they tried hard not to get caught.

A noise echoed through the silence, causing both women to jump and Lea to slap a hand over her mouth to avoid screaming. Trudging feet. A voice. A language neither recognised. The district ‘k-chk’ of a gun. Immediately the soldiers dropped to the grounds, bellies in the dust as they waited, washed white with fear, for the bullets to come flying. One minute. Two. Caramella could hear her heartbeat pulsing violently in her throat, like some kind of strange monster trying desperately to claw its way out of her mouth. Lea was much the same, and they held their hands to the holsters of their own guns just in case.

After about ten minutes of utter silence, they decided silently and unanimously that the coast was clear. Slowly, silently, they rose and patted each other off before resuming in their noiseless trek across the wasteland to the nearest allied trench. Unfortunately, this trench was about a mile West of No Man’s Land and they couldn’t afford to get there too slowly. Their pace was as quick as it could be while still being silent, and they revelled in the lack of sound from the opposition. Within a few minutes, the base was in sight. Caramella gasped in delight and started to walk faster, eventually breaking out into a run. 

It felt like one of those moments from a movie. Caramella’s quickstep across the sand, kicking up dust and debris in her wake. The quiet, almost imperceptible ‘click’ of a switch underground. Lea’s scream. Enemy shouts. And then, loudest of all, was the bomb.

Fire soared out from the sand and ignited the sky, sending blazing trails of embers in every direction. Shouts from both allies and enemies emerged through the dust and the screams before gunfire and the high pitched screech of tinnitus invaded Lea’s ears. Half sobbing and on the verge of hysteria, she ran as fast as she could towards her allies’ trench, forcing herself to get there because she _needed_ help, they _needed_ help...

But it was too late. The damage had been done. Caramella was dead. 

And the commander, sitting in her corner of the bunker with a tired look in her eyes, finally succeeded in smiling. It was a wry kind of smile, filled to the very corners with the cynicism of life. The perfect smile for the woman, and the one she wanted to be plastered on her face when she died. Gazing out at the dusty ceiling, she watched as the rest of the group cowered from the noise and people began to cry as they realised what must have happened when two of their strongest members left to get help. But none of this mattered to the commander anymore. She was ready to accept her fate. All she hoped was that the rest of them would get of this nightmare of a war alive and well. With this thought in mind, she allowed her heavy eyelids to slide over her dull blue eyes, covering her vision from the horrors of reality as she drifted away into a permanent sleep...

**Author's Note:**

> I left the ending somewhat ambiguous deliberately so you can interpret it however you want. By the way, Lea is the soldier wife from 10 Billion Wives. Her first name is Dutch (given by her mother) and her second name is Danish (inherited from her father). She grew up in Holland which is why she’s described as being Dutch. 
> 
> Prompt- Soldier Wife.
> 
> Original Number- 166.


End file.
